A City Submerged
by One4TheThumb10
Summary: Bioshock: Mark knew Rapture before the adam, the people, the city and in this he finds solice. Humanitys fate on the city of Rapture has been decided but as it sinks, Mark readies himself to face the cold embrace of the ocean he has called home.


A City Submerged by Damon Casner

I'm not sure why I went to Rapture, the land of opportunity. Maybe I wanted to escape the sixties like Ryan did. Either way I left the outside world and headed to Rapture. Rapture is a hard city to find. Ryan doesn't publicize it, only the rich, dedicated, and smart are allowed in the valiant city. The ride down in the bathysphere alone costs close to 500,000 U.S. dollars. I couldn't afford it so I did the next logical thing, lie. I fraud close to 20 checks belonging to a rich banker, until my claim to Rapture was alive and well. The Bathysphere ride was a marvel of machinery, built like a railcar the bathysphere can survive thousands of pounds of pressure.

The city eclipsed even the bathysphere, even Stonehenge, built on the ground floor was skyscrapers, stores, buildings, all connected with narrow walkways. Florescent lights from store signs splayed light unto the city. When the Bathysphere docked and I took my first few steps into Rapture, luggage in hand, Ryan was there to meet me. He extended his hand, which I shook. At the time I did not know that the man before me was Andrew Ryan, the brains behind Rapture. He wore a red suit, with a blue tie, and black bowler hat. I was taller than him by a good two inches and wider. I wore a green plaid jacket over my white T-shirt, I wore blue jeans and tried to look unimpressed, I did a bad job.

Ryan smiled noticing my face, he said "Rapture is a marvel, built thousands of feet under the sea; it was built to outlast even the ocean."

Ryan led me across a plush carpeted walkway. Underneath the walkway was a lake of clear blue water which splashed up against the railings. Ryan took a left at the walkway and went up a flight of stairs. An extravagant hallway led to another flight of stairs.

"Mr. Walker?" Ryan asked.

"Mark."

"Mark, you will be staying in room C-102." Ryan handed me a keycard that you pressed up against a scanner in order to open the door. Ryan led me past a nearby store to the living quarters. He opened the door of C-102 to reveal a 35" television. A bed, a bathroom, a couch, a recliner and four windows, the room was white but the carpet blue. An Xbox sat resting underneath the TV with a few DVD's and games.

Ryan than said goodbye and went back the way he came. I tossed my belongings on to my bed and sat down in front of my TV. To my amazement the TV actually got relatively good reception under water.

I flipped through the channels, Rapture had its own new channel but they were primarily from the outside world. I became bored of the TV and went to the lobby below.

There were four buildings of living, Block A, Block B, C, and D. A was the rich section and the most important scientists and doctors, Tenelbaum, Steinman and Andrew Ryan himself. Block B and C were composed of the middle class. Block D was the slums those who failed in Rapture were run by Fontain. The lobby of Block C was relatively large; the walls were a light red, with light red carpet. Plant life scattered the lobby and a front desk sat next to the door of Block C. At the front desk a man and a woman were arguing. They stopped as I approached.

"Good morning sir, may I help you?" the man asked.

"Maybe," I said. "Were's a good place to go in your first few hours in Rapture?"

"Ay sir, welcome to Rapture, beautiful isn't she? Melbridge is a good place to start."

"Melbridge?"

"When you exit the lobby follow the walkway when it ends go left."

"Thank you, why were you arguing?"

The woman had been pretty much ignoring me until I asked that question. She was younger than me by a few years, maybe 23. She had black hair and brown eyes and was on the short side.

"Why?" she asked angrily, not having the best of days.

"Just curious."

"There trying to move me to Block D, because my rent was late."

"For the sixth time," the man corrected.

"But I still pay it," she countered. "And it will get better once I graduate from the university."

"I'm sorry it is really not my choice it is the managers' choice. He wants your things out of here by next week."

She stormed away heading for the stairs, to return to her room.

"Wait," I said jogging after her.

Rapture was huge I marveled I could tell just by looking out the windows into the ever shifting ocean.

She gave me a glance and turned back to her stairs, her escape.

"Hold on," I said stepping in front of her. "What's so bad about Block D?"

"Fontain." She said, "He is a criminal, a thug, its were all the thugs live. They kill each other, and If I have to live in Block D than I will move on. Rapture is just not for me."

"Don't go," I said, "At least show me Melbridge before you leave."

"It's Apollo Square you want to see," she said correcting me. "Trust me on this."

"Show me."

She turned back the way she came passing the front desk and walking out the door. She followed the narrow walkway and went right. The walkway curved in a tight loop, and a door slid open to her. She went through the door into what she explained to be the Farmers Market. Counters littered the area, registers and store owners were the primary sound in the Market. Explaining to there would be customers the art of there product. The register gave off a short retort as money was placed in it.

She didn't stop in the market, but she did nod to a few store owners and customers alike. After the Farmers Market was another walkway, Two TV screens were attached to the ceiling as well as a security camera. She walked on for about thirty minutes until she stopped in front of one of the doors that had slid open so many times before.

"Apollo Square," she announced.

The door slid open to reveal a banner stretched over two posts, reading in red writing Apollo Square. Beyond the signs, was a gathering of benches, stairs, but the most important thing was the sheer surprise that came from realizing that you were surrounded on all sides by water. Windows were the walls, making it seem like you weren't in a room but rather an Ocean. The floor was dark, blending in to the cool blue water. Schools of fish went on about there life swimming near to the glass before dispersing. Somewhere in the distance a whale croaked. Buildings surrounded the square, stretching in all directions. A squid roared by on its way to god knows were. The water bubbled up to the surface, the vision was just overpowering.

I was speechless I just stared at the ocean and its inhabitants. I knew it was a view I would carry for the rest of my life. The bars that attached glass to glass were seemingly invisible. The glass was spotless, how many men did it take to clean Apollo Square? How many were in Rapture all together. When I voiced my questions and she answered, I realized I didn't know her name.

"What is your name?" I asked.

"Andy, you?"

"Mark."

The whale that had roared early came right up to the glass. It nudged the glass pressing its one eye up against the glass. Its eye was huge, at least as big as me. It bellowed a roar as it had done before, but this one shook the room. A few people shouted in response, or fright, a few just stood dumbstruck at the monstrosity. I was one of those people; it was easily the biggest living creature I had ever seen. It was beautiful and graceful making every flick of its fins count.

We spent about two hours in Apollo Square studying the sea life, or maybe they studied us. But after our two hours we returned to Block C. It was noticeably more boring, compared to the vibrant Apollo Square.

"Where are you going to go?" I asked Andy.

"I have a week before I have to leave." She said. "See you around." Without a backward glance she left walking down the hall, I went the other way to my room. Flopping on my bed the image of the whale continued to replay in my mind.

Apollo Square was beautiful, but its later use would put the room to shame.

I had to get a job, I thought rolling over to look out my window, the next morning. The sea was dark; a quick shadow darted by my window, looking for food. The clock on my bed read 9:49. I sat up rubbing my eyes, still starring out the window. Maybe there was a storm overhead? Or maybe the sun just didn't reach this low? Or even maybe it was too early? Probably too early I reasoned, smiling at myself.

I stood up pulling on a lose fitting blue T-shirt, jeans, and shoes. I walked groggily to the bathroom were I checked to make sure my hair wasn't too wild, and brushed my teeth. Rapture wasn't a free ride you had to work, crazy as that may sound 500,000 only paid for the Bathysphere. But were would I look to find a job? Up top I had done labor mostly, construction, mechanic, I did a lot. Your regular handy man, I thought. Could I do something like that down here? They certainly needed maintenance at a place like this. I walked down to the lobby almost falling down the last few stairs; I looked for the front desk assistant I had found yesterday. Block C was deserted. I walked a little farther to see a very short and old woman behind the desk. I hadn't seen her before on account of her being so small. Her head was barely visible above the desk. Her glasses sat on top of her crooked nose and her faces wrinkles made the glasses seem much smaller in comparison with her nose.

"May I help you?" she asked looking up from the book she had, moments early been buried in to.

"I'm looking for work," I mumbled.

"Work?" she said. "I'm not sure, what you looking for?"

"Maintenance? Or at least something involving your hands."

"Not much work for someone like that in Rapture. No maintenance especially," she said. "The divers have that covered."

"The divers?"

"Yea, the big guys in tin suits, you know the Big Daddies?"

"Not really."

"You'll see. Head to Ryan Industries or maybe the Fisheries, there your best chance. Maybe even Plasmids R US?" she said. "There the major corporations."

"How would one get there?" I asked.

"There are signs everywere." And with that her crooked nose was once again buried in her book.

I walked through the sliding door, realizing for the first time that there were many signs pointing out directions. I followed the sign that pointed to Ryan Industries, hoping to meet Ryan himself, as I hadn't known the man who had welcomed me was him.

Ryan Industries was big; they made everything all the technology that Rapture ran on. Ryan himself controlled everything that was technologically contrived, meaning he could keep a hold of everything. Ryan stayed out of the food business, maybe there wasn't money to be had or maybe he didn't feel the need to run it.

When I first entered Ryan industries the first thing I noticed was how busy it was, men loading boxes, carrying boxes. Men and woman conversing much and loudly. Ryan Industries was a flurry of movement. I ignored the work going on in the background and instead talked to the woman in the front desk. Her nametag read Betty; she was middle-aged short and typed frantically on her computer.

I cleared my throat loudly and she looked up.

"Hi," I said "Any work to be had?"

It took her a second to register my question she just stared blankly at me. "I don't believe so," she said.

"Nothing?" I asked astonished.

"Hold on," she said, hitting keys on her computer, after a few minutes of frantic typing she shook her head. "There seems to be nothing available at the moment, Sr."

Weird I thought taking my last look at the hectic workplace that was Ryan Industries. I left following the signs that led me to Plasmids R US. By what I had heard Fontain wasn't exactly the best guy, so why would I work for him? The walk to Plasmids R US took nearly fifty minutes.

The lobby seemed to be much smaller here and much more deserted.

"What do you do here?" I asked the front desk assistance, another woman.

"Plasmids R US is a Genetic Modifier in direct Partnership with Fontain Fisheries." She recited duly. "We develop the direct usage of material regulated by commerce from the Fontain Fisheries. Dr. Suchong is the directive lead. Our products will be on the shelves at the exact time that Fontain Fisheries release there new product."

"New product?" I asked.

"The products exact dispositional had not been released to the masses as of this time, is there anything else I can do for you?" she finished.

"Any openings?"

She scanned her computer dully. Typing in a few words she pressed a call button.

"Hold on." She said.

A few minutes later a man dressed in a suit and tie rode an elevator to the ground floor.

"I am Dr. Luther Rodes, one of Suchongs advisors," he said extending his hand.

I shook it examining the mans face slowly. He was young no more than twenty five; his face was lined from stress. The man put a great deal of effort in to smiling, a fact very noticeable.

"What position would you be looking for Mr.….?" Rodes asked.

"Walker. Anything work oriented, I didn't understand much of what she just said."

"Ok, ok." Rodes said, "Let me give you a tour of our "operation", he said taking my shoulder and leading me away from the desk, and the boring woman behind it.

Rodes lead me past the door he came through talking the whole time.

"What kind of job are you looking for?"

"Labor oriented."

"Really? We have a shortage of labor men; we will defiantly have an opening. Is unloading ok?"

"Sure."

Rodes led me into a back room, "This is were we unload the equipment from Fontain Fisheries."

I asked Rodes what the equipment was but he didn't answer. The unloading sight looked just like the Bathysphere dock, except filled with activity and boxes.

I returned to my room a little happier about myself now that I had a job in Rapture; my first day of work was to be a week from now. The week passed by quickly, trips to Apollo square, exploring the city. My first day of work consisted of carrying many heavy boxes and objects. Glass clinked against glass in the box, and the muffled whispers of workers suspicious about what they were carrying were the only sound.

A few weeks after my first day of work Fontain announced his intention to build or rather expand upon Fontain Fisheries with Fontain Futuristics. It was the beginning of the fall of Rapture. It took about three months for the business to be built and Fontain announced there first production, ADAM! I remember watching the news channel of Fontains announcement.

"What exactly is ADAM?" a reporter asked.

"It is Genetic material. Adam can change anything about the user, look, race, body. It has allowed all new advances in the department of plastic surgery. Dr. Steinman was the first to purchase a large amount, for use in his Medical Pavilion. ADAM is also used for rearranging molecules and the Genetic code. In strict partnership with Plasmids R US we were able to create a number of Plasmids and Tonics that can be integrated into ADAM."

"Plasmids?" the reporter asked puzzled.

"Plasmids grant the user powers, as of release Plasmids R US has put on shelves three Plasmids, Incinerate, Electrocute, and Freeze Wave. Incinerate is technically fire, by using Incinerate one can set whatever he or she wishes on fire. Electrocute is a fistful of fire, and Freeze Wave freezes." 

"And when will the marvels of ADAM be available?"

"In a week or two."

With that the interview ended. Nobody knew the extent of ADAMs hit on the market. It was the most bought product in Rapture. Fontain Futuristics had hit a winner. Within a week of release almost everyone had spliced some sort of plasmid. I hadn't, but Plasmids R US was offering one free plasmids to workers, as a promotion oddly enough. Plastic surgeons all over Rapture were rejoicing there were no limits to what they could do with ADAM. The next interview that was on RaptureTV was one with Tenebaum the lead of the ADAM project.

"How is ADAM harvested?" the reporter asked.

"ADAM is found in a sea slug on the bottom of the ocean floor. Through symbiotic transplants it is possible to remove small traces of ADAM from the slug. But the real acquiring of ADAM is from combining the slug with a host. By doing this ADAM is produced much more rapidly. Right now, Fontain Futuristics is going through much legal action in order to acquire more hosts."

"What about Plasmids?" the reporter asked.

"That is Suchongs territory, but to my understanding Plasmids when spliced with ADAM give the users powers to an extent. ADAM rearranges the genetic material that is why it is so useful for plastic surgery. When used with plasmids it rearranges the cells that grant one powers. Plasmids R US has promised to introduce many more plasmids in the coming months."

The first few months after ADAM, were eventless. By the sixth month the second murder in Rapture, ever was recorded. I hadn't spliced up to that point but soon it became important for ones survival in Rapture. By the seventh month an event that would be remembered by many occurred it was widely recognized as the Turning point of Rapture.

Up until this point and well after, Ryan had refused to regulate Fontains business as he believed in free trade. But ADAM was becoming increasingly wanted and violence was becoming much more common. Another interview comes to mind this one involving Tenebaum again.

"Are there any physiological problems involving the splicing of plasmids and ADAM particularly?"

"ADAM rearranges the cells and brain cells particularly, as a trade off this could make ones brain cells unstable. This event is quite rare and we are putting our best scientists on this rather remarkable discovery."

"With the rearranging of brain cells is there a chance that plasmids could be used to strengthen ones mind, or more particularly control it."

"Fontain Futuristics has neither confirmed nor denied this particular question."

"What about the increasing addiction to ADAM?"

"No comment," Tenebaum said.

"Or what about the increase in deaths in the past few months, could this be related to ADAM?"

"No comment," with that the interview was finished.

By introducing ADAM Fontain had sent the rather beautiful under water city into a spiral of destruction. ADAM while great for some things had the remarkable quality of being addictive, great for business but not for customers. In my opinion this was the greatest cause of the downfall, maybe the only cause, no regulation couldn't run for long.

I woke up the next morning, startled at how cold it was. Rapture had never been this cold before. I had my blankets wrapped around my body, and was curled into a tight ball. Had the pipes frozen I thought. I struggled out of bed; a chill shooting up my spine, how cold was the water outside the city. Rolling over, I realized that it was New Year, 1959. I stood up combing my hair; one of my bosses had invited me to the Kashmir restaurant. It was a small place, with a globe suspended twenty feet off the ground. There was going to be a large party and even Ryan himself was set to visit. I watched TV for an hour before it became eleven a.m. I than left for the restaurant. I was dressed in a loose fitting blue collared shirt. I had on Khakis and dress shoes.

I entered the Kashmir, realizing how much warmer it was here. My boss was at a far table calling me over. I walked past the counter taking a seat beside my boss who introduced me to the others at my table. There were two other workers and the Manager of Plasmids R US. They all smiled and shook my hand. The conversation was rather forced, it was more of common chat among strangers than what it should have been had I still been living in the outside world. We talked for thirty minutes until we ordered food, I had come to know that Rapture had the best fish, and cooks on the planet. The mood finally started to lighten up after we had finished eating, and it became more of a casual talk among friends. Everyone noticed the freezing cold, and how warm it was here. But by the time the attack began it was far in the back our minds.

It was an explosion that started the cries and screams of everyone around us. The globe started to fall towards the ground below. Debris was torn off and metal groaned under the weight of the glass and steel. A beam fell crushing a woman below. More screams filled the air as splicer's flooded the area. They all had weapons, revolvers, machine guns, shotguns. There were six splicer's on the top level were I was. The first one fired a round out of his revolver; it hit one of my fellow workers near me. I dove behind the counter bullets soaring over my head. I was defenseless waiting for a splicer to take aim at me, or even to find a stray bullet impact my temple.

There was another explosion and the globe fell dangerously close to hitting the ground. I looked back at the party I had recently eaten lunch with. The Manager was on fire, attempting to smother the fire engulfing his body. These splicers obviously had more than weapons. Luckily, one of the workers had spliced up, throwing a trash can at one of the splicer's seconds before he was hit by a stray machine gun round. The trash can tossed the splicer against the wall, with a resounding thud. The revolver he had been holding moments before somehow rebounded back to me. I picked it up, reminding myself that there had to be something more than us. I leaned around the counter firing the revolver, both rounds I fired missed. I had never fired a gun before. The splicers turned towards me, giving my boss the time it took, to make a break for the door. He was cut down before he got close. I fired, waiting for the gun to click; I somehow hit one of the splicers, who yelled in protest. There were a few others inside the Kashmir before the attack began. One had a weapon on him; he fired a constant stream of bullets, forcing the splicers to retreat. One fell under a hail of bullets. I sprinted for the weapon, praying the whole way. I reached the gun unharmed, it was a shotgun, but how many rounds were inside of it? Two splicers tried to come out of the room, they had just retreated in to, but my shotgun silenced there footsteps. Blood splattered the nearby wall, and they both collapsed. There was only one left, who seeing his friends die, ran.

I was too shocked to move, so I didn't. Instead I stared at the two splicers I had killed with one shotgun blast. How easy could it have been me? Later I learned, that many were wounded from the attack, the bottom level had been attacked as well. A woman, Ryan's girlfriend had become very disfigured. A woman had died from falling debris. Three had been killed from direct contact with the splicers, not including my boss, the manager and the workers. Many more were injured from the explosion, the falling debris and the splicers themselves. It would become one of the most known events in Raptures history.

I hadn't thought much about the event preceding the New Year catastrophe, at the time it wasn't important. Fontain was just a household name, the owner of Fontain Fisheries. Really, how much did his death mean to me? It meant a lot to the rest of Rapture, it was everywere. The news, the newspaper, headlines read, Fontain, smuggler killed in fiery shootout. Rapture had been going down hill slowly for a very long time. Ever since plasmids and ADAM were introduced Rapture had been getting consumed by the sea itself. After the New Years event I knew I had no choice but to change to adapt with the times. If I was caught between a rock and a hard place again, I would almost certainly be dead. I had decided abruptly one morning that it was time to become a splicer. Walking in to Fontain Futuristics I realized that ADAM and plasmids must be insanely expensive. Hypos of every color lined the walls, posters hung over them advertising the hypos. Salesman walked around the building dressed in blue suits.

There must have been thousands of hypos, all different colors. The one that stuck out the most was a dark red color it looked like blood. A huge sign was hung above it labeling it ADAM, the canvas of genetic modification. A salesman made his way over to me.

"Ahh, welcome Sr. what can I interest you in?"

"I'm not sure, first time," I said feeling a little out of place.

"A first time splicer? Not too many of those left." The salesman said.

"Yea time to change I guess."

"Good attitude, we have a sale today, purchase two plasmids get one free. But the ADAM will cost quite a lot to splice it all, especially buying the plasmids slots."

"How much?" I asked taking out my wallet.

"Well if I ring it all up," he said tapping a few keys, "One-thousand twenty dollars and eighty-seven cents."

Damn I thought counting out my bills, no way had I had that much on me, I had maybe four hundred in bills. But I did have my account number could I afford that much though? I thought I had that much in my account at Plasmids R US.

"No, I don't think so," I said.

"If you buy this much on a later date it will be a little over two-thousand."

I needed it I thought, times were changing and as much as I hated to admit it, I loved Rapture I couldn't leave.

"Ok," I said handing over my account number.

"Nice Sr. what plasmids would you be interested in, and can I interest you in any tonics?"

"No tonics, what plasmids are good for a first time splicer?"

"Telekinesis is a must, as is Electro Bolt, and possibly Incinerate."

Telekinesis looked good I thought, tossing things like the one worker did that killed the one splicer and saved my life. Electro Bolt was just a fistful of lightning, useful however you looked at it. Incinerate would be perfect for a fight, setting someone on fire would be great. Was there any other ones I could use I thought looking at the posters. There were a few others that seemed useful in a fight and many more that seemed just useless.

"Ok," I said.

I was handed over four needles, one was the dark red colored hypo, and it was the biggest by far. Another one was a lighter red, the Incinerate plasmid I was told. The Electro Bolt was a light blue, and the Telekinesis was purple. Taking a deep breath I stuck the needle of dark red deep in my arm. The pain was intense; I instantly lost feeling in left arm. There was an intense numbing and burning pain followed by an even deeper cold. When the feeling subsided, I grabbed the lighter red, squinting I let the needle penetrate my skin. This was way worst than the ADAM, the heat, burned up my arm. My hands skin started to burn away, exposing the red flesh which slowly turned black. My fingers grew the hottest; I started to keel over falling under the intense heat. My body was hot everywere; it finally started to subside into a dull throbbing. I slowly stood up from my knees the salesman beside me laughing.

"It's defiantly your first," he said smiling.

The next few days were a struggle. I fought insanity in silence, everyday feeling farther and farther on the edge. When I had gotten home from Fontain Futuristics I did nothing but lay in bed. My body was sore, my brain clouded I thought about the three plasmids that had rearranged my genes. Thinking about them more or less switched them; my skin went from being a bright red, Incinerate, to having electricity flowing through my veins. If I wasn't careful a twitch of my fingers set them off. Just by barely twitching my hand, lightning was shot into a nearby obstacle.

The day after I began my first step into splicing I called off. My head felt like it was splitting in to two. On the third day the pain that had plagued me for two days dissapered. I could move around, and I felt much better, more whole. It was like waking up from a dream, I had to fight not to return to the store and splice even more. The longer time went on without splicing, the less I felt whole. My mind began to fell fragmented, and the pain began to return. It was hard to fall asleep and damn near impossible to watch TV or read a book. I couldn't focus, all I could think about was ADAM, wanting more, craving more.

When I didn't think about ADAM it was like a haze had been lifted. I remember the news programs; there was a shortage of ADAM. The citizens were outraged, Tenebaum and Fontain promised a solution to this problem and a few days later, Little Sisters were invented. Tenebaum promised that they wouldn't be harmed they were only used to increase the production of ADAM.

I left my room to go to work and came back to my room after work. It took me a month to realize that ADAM was my only salvation from the pain, so I did. I bought only a little bit of ADAM to wake up from my eternal sleep. The next few days were great I felt whole once again.

"Hey," I said to Don, a worker at Plasmids R US, walking in to work one day.

"Mark," he said nodding "Did you hear about the raid on Block C?"

I stopped walking abruptly looking back at Don. "What happened?'

"Block C was raided just a few hours ago. Reports say that hundreds are dead and Block C is virtually destroyed. Officials believe that there are splicers that belonged to Fontains crew before his death a few months ago. Thirty splicers are dead but most are the residents of Block C.'

My room, would it be gone I thought? Panic starting to creep into my mind. Had I lost everything I had worked so hard on in Rapture for the last few years. There was an explosion that woke me from my trance. It was right outside the door to Plasmids R US. Don turned and ran bullets flew threw the door. Blood spurted up into the air as bullets tore into Dons leg. He fell screaming as I turned and ran, bullets flew over my head. I grabbed Don with telekinesis and tossed him into the back door. He continued to scream obviously under intense pain. Don landed into a pile of boxes splintering wood, but he was alive.

I slid threw the door right behind Don. Gunshots filled the air as workers fired back at the splicers. Screamed filled the air, workers and splicers alike. I turned to look back outside the door. The splicers were pined down at the entrance, they couldn't advance. I snapped my fingers and watched as an unlucky splicer shot up in flames. His screams were by far the loudest. In his attempt to put out the fire he ran straight into a wall, bones crunched under the collision. The smoke from the burning body made visibility poor. A splicer tossed a grenade that I threw back easily, killing those unlucky enough to stand next to the door.

"I'm Sorry Lord," a Splicer yelled running out from the cover of the door. Bullets slammed into his chest and silence filled the room.

Could that have been the last splicer? There was another explosion this one louder than the rest and the ceiling came crashing down in front of the door sealing us from the outside world.

The dust from the fallen debris made it almost impossible to breath. When the charges were blown power had been cut leaving me standing in darkness. The air tasted stale as I waited for my eyes to adjust. Was it possible that splicers may still be in the store? Could they be waiting for us to stop resisting? I couldn't know for sure, but the intense groaning of Don brought me back to reality. We were trapped, with no food, no water, no light, but we did have all the plasmids we could inject, right here in this room.

I went back into the room to examine Don. His leg was bleeding profusely, his face in a deep grimace. He was sweating very badly and the boxes that he was under were splintered and broken. Don was bleeding to death, his face was pale, and yet the blood continued to pour out of the wound. Don mumbled something but it didn't register as I had just heard loud yelling from somewhere off to the left. I left the room to find, over near the stairs, men and woman arguing.

"If we move the debris we could just cause another cave-in," a woman said.

"Then what can we do, wait?"

"We have supplies," she said "We will be able to survive down here."

"No!" another man said. "We need to tend to the wounded and than find a way out of here."

I approached the stairs as there voices grew in frustration. Suddenly I was increasingly aware of the danger Don was in.

"A man is bleeding to death in that room," I yelled.

They turned to look at me, dust and anger covering there faces.

"There are many wounded," the woman said. "They will just have to be. The splicers hit us hard and without warning."

There was a flurry of movement at the top of the stairs and a man came tumbling down, crashing in to a woman unlucky enough to be standing in his way. There was a muffled collision and suddenly the man was on fire. His screams shock the room, everyone turned to look at the dancing flames, and the man crazy enough to hit him with Incinerate. The man set the woman alight just by brushing up against her and her screams joined his.

Suddenly it was a free for all, a fist collided with a man's face, and he slumped to the ground. The faces bones crunched in protest and blood and spit shot across the room. The man who had punched the other was instantly lying flat on his back from another man's tackle. The man began wailing on him, with a flick of my wrist I sent him flying against the nearby wall, before I began to sprint. Within seconds the building had become a riot zone, plasmids crashing into nearby walls punches flying, debris being tossed back and forth. Scrapples pored out into the main room, men and woman alike.

Don began to groan in protest as I slowly began to drag him into a corner with his good leg. He was In the middle of the room; a misplaced plasmid could snuff out his life like that. The lights suddenly flared back on, Don was whiter than I thought, with the return of the lights so too, did there humanity. The fights that had consumed them earlier began to subside, leaving only the exhaustion and hopelessness at finding the only exit blocked by the falling debris.

I looked outside the room, bodies littered the ground, pools of blood, burnt bodies and the smell of over cooked meat greeted me. Women were crying, standing over bodies, or in pain I could not tell. Men seemed more than a little stunned, examining the bodies of there friends, covered in blood, jaws broken thanks. I feared the lights going back out, but someone had fixed them. I would remember to say a prayer for them. I left the room, stepping over a dead body I headed back to the stairs. If I could find an Eve Hypo I was relatively certain that I would be able to move the debris and let us escape through the main entrance.

"What are you doing?" a man said blocking my path to the stairs.

"Looking for a way out," I responded.

"When we decide what were going to do, than you can help," the man said.

He was easily 6'6 and over 200 pounds. He was covered in muscle and his chin was about as square as possible. I attempted to walk around him, not trusting any one else to do what must be done. He threw a punch. My eyes watered from the blow, and I collapsed to the ground. Stars blinked in front of my eyes, and an intense pain throbbed from were he had hit me. There was a trash can only feet away, I picked it up with telekinesis and with the flick of my wrist shot it into the man's gut. He doubled over in pain as I brought my knee down on top of his head. His breathing continued but I had shut his eyes. I continued up the stairs, my legs felt weak after the blow the man had dealt me, and I stumbled up the stairs almost falling back down them, but I knew what I had to do. I had to search this place top to bottom, looking for anything that could help us out of this dreadful place. The air seemed to grow less and less with every passing minute and I knew soon the people would start to panic and I wanted to be out of here before they did.

The stairs continued up till they reached a walkway suspended by steel girders ten stories above the ground. The walkway had many hallways leading off into untold directions. I took the first one, the sign read EMERGENCY MEDICAL WING, and I hoped that I would find something that could stall Dons bleeding.

The EMERGENCY MEDICAL WING was a long hallway that had many rooms and other hallways branching of from the main one. My shoes made a soft echo as they connected with the linoleum floor. The first few rooms were labeled, C-100, and C-101. I stuck my head into the room to only see small medical beds with white sheets. After room C-133 there was a room labeled EMERGENCY SUGERY. The door slid open for me granting me a soft hush of motion. In the middle of the room was a white table just large enough for a seven foot human to lie on top of. Scattered around the room were smaller tables, almost trolleys, on top of the trolleys were an assortment of medical equipment. Scalpels, gauze, cameras, knives, and many other tools glistened in the dull light. I rifled through the drawls of one cabinet. A dull knife of pain shot up my back as my finger was cut open by a knife laid carelessly in the drawl. The room was ghostly white and smelled stale, almost lifeless.

There was a crash from behind, and a man ran into the room cradling a pistol in his limp hands. The shot he fired sailed over my head into the nearby wall, plaster rained down on my head. The trolley that shot across the room crashing into the mans head was met with an explosion of blood. The man fell to the ground making no sound and I went to his body to police the weapon. Up until the point were I was looking into his lifeless eyes the events of today had seemed like a dream. The battle with the Splicers, Dons injury, the panic after the lights went down, the man who had tried to stop me on the stairs; they had all seemed so fake.

With the pistol in hand I resumed my search for a medical kit. A few minutes later I found a case with the familiar Red Cross on a white backdrop. Checking to make sure it wasn't empty I began the trip back to Don. Had I known that Don was dead from the moment he was shot, that even if I had stopped the bleeding much sooner he would still be dead, events may had played out much different. I entered the room with Don to find him struggling to stand up against a nearby wall. People yelled outside his room, I placed a piece of cloth around his leg and slowly began to wrap it with tape. The cleaning solution was empty but I wasn't worried about cleaning his wound, when his face was about as white as a ghosts.

Helping Don, we made the walk to the large entrance room outside the small room Don had started in. The air was getting thinner and thinner by the second, and Don like me, kept his eyes on the rubble that blocked our escape. I led Don up to the table in the Emergency Surgery room; Don stepped over the body eyeing it with particular interest. With Don laid out on the table I began my search of the rest of the business. Most of the hallways were business related, production in particular. There wasn't another way out of this hellhole for whatever reason. I was trapped doomed to die in a City miles under the water, on the sea floor away from the sun that I had been born in to.

More shots rang out somewhere on the bottom floor but I was to far away to care. I had just entered a hallway I hadn't been, Labeled ADVANCED BIONETICS TECHNOLOGICS REASERCH AND DEVELOP INFASTRUCTURES. In truth I had no idea what it meant, but I hoped that it had something to do with technology most words with more than ten letters involved technology. This hallway was the color of steel, it also smelled lifeless. In the first room was an assortment of metal arms, legs, helmets, boots and gloves. I hadn't known that it was a soon to be Big Daddies armor. A drill lay on a table feet away from the entrance to the room, I grabbed it thinking it might come in handy.

The drill felt powerful in my hands and I advanced farther into the hallway. The next room was labeled COMUNICATION OF THE TECHNOLOGICALY ADVANCED. Inside was a weird machine called the Voice Amplifier, I chose to stay away, and maybe it was the ghastly smell of the pheromones in the air or just the name of the machine itself. The next room was what I was looking for, more weapons. Drills scattered the tables, so did shotguns, but the real attraction was the mines sitting next to the drills. With a rush of exhilaration I dropped the drill grabbing a handful of mines. I stuffed a few mines in my pockets, not putting them to close afraid they would blow.

"Take it Slow," I told myself, trying not to hurry. With as many mines that I could carry loaded up I began the slow and deliberate walk back to the entrance.

I'm not sure how long it took to arrive back to were I had stored Don but I knew it had to be considerable, as the rooms around his and the hallways and main room in particular were smoking. I walked in the room with Don to find him staring directly at the ceiling; he glanced over at me, forcing a smile.

"Did you find anything?" he asked bracing himself for the worse.

"Sure," I said "I told you I would, I found mines." I took out one of the two dozen mines I had stuffed in my pockets.

Don looked at the mines, color returning to his pale face, he smiled for real this time. He stood up limping on his one good foot; he put his arm around me as I supported him down the stairs. He cradled our one gun ready for the worst. The lights were still on, and bodies were everywere but the room was motionless. There was no sound, no motion, nothing. We walked up to the rubble; I sat Don down facing away from the rubble pistol drawn as I began to plant the mines. Don was a little jittery as the mines activated one by one right next to each other. I had used explosives on the outside world before. I began to drag Don away from the splash zone, as a man from some were far off yelled a battle cry. Dons first shot missed wide splintering the wood behind him. The man continued to run in a straight line, firing off a shot at Don. Don fired two rounds back one connecting into the mans knee, who fired just as he fell. The bullet hit one of the nearest mines detonating the two dozen that I had just planted. I looked on in horror as the charges detonated and all went to hell.

The lights were out once again, crawling slowly on my hands and knees I found the limp body of Don. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light, I cringed as I realized that Don was covered in blood and debris. He wasn't breathing and the pistol that he had used to stop the man now feet from him was clutched in his hand. I picked up the pistol turning it over in my hand, it was light and the pistol was dented from the explosion. The man who Don had shot in the leg was slowly grabbing his own weapon. I shot him without a second thought he had killed Don who was so close to living. The debris that had once blocked the exit was cleared; giving thanks I walked threw the entrance, into a dark corridor. Burnt and burning bodies lied sprawled along the corridor, some had mats of blood and others seemed to of died internally. Every body looked like Dons and for every body I saw I felt a pang of guilt. Why had I been so intent on setting the charges when I could have helped, Don could have helped my friend.

I stepped over the bodies and continued down the dark hallway scanning it intently for any movement. For a few minutes I saw nothing but like clockwork I turned a corner and ran headlong in to a party of 4. Three men and a woman, they were huddled close together talking quietly giving me the impression that they weren't splicers. I hid behind the wall, trying to give myself some assurance that my assumption was right.

"He's right around the corner," the woman said.

"I'm sure bigger parties than us have tried," the man said "It's impossible, and I like my life."

One of the men facing me spotted me and leveled his gun.

"Who the Hell are you?" he asked startled.

"Mark," I said.

"He's not a splicer," the woman said forcing the man to lower his weapon.

"I'm Martha, and this is Burt, John, James, and Sam." She said pointing to them each in turn.

I walked quietly over to them, not making any sudden movements as I still didn't trust them.

"Were going to kill a Big Daddy," Burt said, he had brown hair and brown eyes and was beefier than the others. "There's one right around the corner with a little sister. Want in? We could use all the help we could get."

A Big Daddy, I thought? Wouldn't that be suicide? They were huge and armored everywere and in combat they were very fast and fierce. They had mines, drills and there backhand was as violent as any. But if we got the Little Sister we would be sitting good, imagine all the ADAM we would get, plus I needed a party, no more of this traveling alone shit.

"Sure," I said forcing a smile.

"Great," John said tossing me a shotgun and a few bucks. "You've fired a gun before right?"

"Yes," I said.

"Good and I assume you have plasmids?"

"Yes."

"They all do," Martha said.

"But I need Eve," I interjected.

"Alright," James said tossing me a Hypo and watching as I injected it into my arm.

He smiled as I grimaced in pain as the Hypo entered my body. Martha had a revolver while James and John both had machine guns. Burt on the other hand had a heat seeker. We walked down the hallway silently, I in the back trying to catch first glimpse at our heavy weight opponent.

He was a monster. Over ten feet tall he must of weighed five thousand pounds. The armor looked increasingly un-comfortable. It was like a silent wall of steel between us and him. His helmet looked menacing as the lights glowed a dull green. The drill he carried was tinted with blood. The girl that stood beside him was little over three and a half feet. She weighed little more than fifty pounds. She had no weapons and looked nothing special except for the foot long needle she carried in her hand. Blood dripped off the needle as she walked and the ten foot behemoth followed in step.

"As one," Burt whispered.

He snapped his fingers and the Big Daddy erupted in flames, all at once the girl began to scream. She jumped on his back and hid behind his helmet. James and John began to fire there machine guns while back pedaling. Bullets slammed into the Big Daddy but with an eruption of speed he slapped Burt aside. Martha twisted her wrist and a bolt of electricity shot out of her palm, buying Burt the precious seconds to stand up. As soon as he was on his feet he fired the heat seeker three times, renewing the fire. The Big Daddy charged threw the rockets and forced the drill into Burt's chest. The drill shot blood and bone everywere as Burt began to scream. I maneuvered in behind the Big Daddy and began firing shotgun rounds which only seemed to piss him off more as he was peppered with machine gun rounds. The Big Daddy swung at me sending me cascading against a nearby wall, where I didn't stand. The bullets finally stopped there deadly slice threw the air as James and John began to reload. He took the opportunity to fire his own weapons and toss a mine. The mine landed next to the James and as he attempted to move into a better firing position it detonated. He was consumed by the blast and all that remained was his legs, still attempting to defy gravity. The bullets from the drill slammed into Josh's body who crumpled under there savage rounds. Martha dissapered leaving me with a very big, very pissed adversary. He walked over to me standing over top me, when he was over top of me I realized how dented his armor looked from our beating we had delivered even if I was meant to die. I fired the shotgun in his face, and he ripped it from my arm, breaking it in the process. He than grabbed my leg and tossed me my leg snapped as I attempted to remain standing. I slowly crawled backwards were I noticed the heat seeker only yards away. It had one rocket left, I flicked my fingers and the launcher soared to me, I fired and watched as his body crumpled from the force of the explosion. He was dead.

I freed the Little Sister. For whatever reason I was doomed to die, my leg and arm were broken and nobody was around to help me. I felt that I needed to save the girl in order to save me, and at least this way some token of my life precedes me. I hope that whoever is to receive and read this journal saves the girls as I did for every one deserves a chance at life.


End file.
